That NELFund TV cartoon advert

The National Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) television advert never fails to amuse me. Every time it appears on screen, I turn to my wife, also a marketing communicator, and ask: who exactly is NELFUND trying to reach with this type of TVC (as we say in advertising)?

The other day, however, I decided to watch the advert to the very end, only to discover that it was the National Orientation Agency (NOA) that produced the campaign for NELFUND.

Every advertising campaign is driven by its target audience dynamics, that is, the makeup of the market to which the product or service will be sold. This is why a thorough target audience analysis is usually conducted before embarking on such campaigns. The audience demographics—age, sex, income, population, location, etc.—are carefully considered. Their psychographics, such as lifestyle, attitudes, beliefs, and values, are also tracked to ensure alignment with the essence of the product or service being marketed.

These factors would then determine the copy (language), models, locations, and other elements used to capture the attention of the intended audience.

In the light of this background, one begins to wonder whether the NOA took the time to study NELFUND’s target audience before producing the television cartoon currently running on major national television networks.

The last I checked, NELFUND is a national loan scheme introduced by President Bola Tinubu to make higher education accessible to indigent students who ordinarily may not be able to afford it. This means the scheme targets potential and current higher education students aged 16–18 years and above – young adults on the verge of entering tertiary institutions or already enrolled.

Communicating such an important credit facility through a “Tom and Jerry”-style animated cartoon advert is inappropriate.

NELFUND is a serious financial product that requires clear and unambiguous communication. Animated cartoons are typically designed to entertain children or aid their cognitive development. While some adults may occasionally watch them for amusement, this alone is insufficient justification to use such a medium to communicate a life-changing facility to young adults.

Financial institutions that use animated cartoons, caricatures, or emojis in their campaigns typically do so as part of secondary or subordinate campaigns, reinforcing a major primary message.

The NOA would do well to use relatable models who resemble young students to create a public awareness campaign that resonates with the target audience.

The campaign should also extend to remote areas of the country, where poor but brilliant students abound.

President Tinubu’s intention is to ensure that no youth’s academic potential should be truncated due to financial incapacity. This vision underpins the introduction of NELFUND, and the NOA has a critical role in realizing this objective.

Nwosu PhD writes from Awka.